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Every second Saturday of the month, 4 pm - Divine Liturgy in English of Sunday - Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family, Duke Street, London W1K 5BQ. Followed by refreshments.Next Liturgy: Saturday 9th September, 4pm

To purchase The Divine Liturgy: an Anthology for Worship (in English), order from the Sheptytsky Institute here, or the St Basil's Bookstore here.To purchase the Divine Praises, the Divine Office of the Byzantine-Slav rite (in English), order from the Eparchy of Parma here.The new catechism in English, Christ our Pascha, is available from the Eparchy of the Holy Family and the Society. Please email johnchrysostom@btinternet.com for details.

"It's Now or Never: The Return of the Eastern Christians to Iraq and Syria" - John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need gives the annual Christopher Morris Lecture in the Society's 90th year. Monday 27th November at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family. 6-15 pm Divine Liturgy, 7-15 pm Lecture, 8-15 pm Reception. £10 donation requested. RSVP to johnchrysostom@btinternet.com

This is one of the best videos explaining the theology of the icon, and how it fits within the theology of the Church as a whole. I recommend all my students to watch this, even though some of the theology is a bit technical and difficult to understand.

Sunday, 23 June 2013

Dame Mary Tanner: a President of the World Council of Churches, formerly Moderator of Faith and Order - “Staying together on the ecumenical journey: a story of bridge-building between East and West” [the work of listening and understanding of the Commission that helped the Orthodox to remain within the WCC]

A third RISU article on culture, faith, church, proclamation and mission - important alike for Eastern and Roman Catholics - and Orthodox too. Thanks to Fr James Siemens (Symposium - Priest of the Church) for alerting us to this.

See his Symposium blog for his own articles addressing related themes.

At the beginning of this Holy
Synod we thank Almighty God, in the words of St. Paul in his Letter to the
Ephesians:“Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his
will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in
himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are
on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who
first trusted in Christ.” (Ephesians
1: 3-12)

In this text we find a wonderful description of our holy calling in Church
and society today.
We also find in the words of the Apostle Paul consolation and strength in the
current tragic conditions experienced by our country, the Church of the Middle
East and our fellow-citizens of all Christian and Muslim denominations.

This is what Saint Paul wrote in
his Second Letter to the Corinthians: “Blessed
be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and
the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may
be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we
ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of
Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And
whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is
effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or
whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And
our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the
sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren,
have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed
out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: but we
had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and
doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; ye also helping
together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of
many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.” (2 Corinthians 1: 3-11)

Tragic circumstances

These holy verses give strength to
us pastors and to our sons and daughters, the priests, monks, nuns and faithful
laymen and women who can hear them, thanks to the media. We hope that those
words give them reason for fortitude and consolation, patience and perseverance,
resilience and moral courage in these circumstances prevailing in our country,
especially in dear wounded Syria.

Some eight million of its people have
become refugees in their own beloved country and abroad, particularly in
Lebanon, which carries the great burden ofreceivinghundreds of
thousands of displaced people. Syria, which received Palestinians sixty-five
years ago, Iraqis after the invasion of Iraq, and Lebanese after the 2006 war,
now has displaced children whose suffering of every kind is comparable.

We thank their generous host Lebanon,
its president, government, institutions and people and ask God to protect
Lebanon from the fire of the Syrian crisis, which affects virtually the whole
region.

Threelights

We pray God for peace in our
region as a whole. May God protect it and us too.As for our Synod
this year, its work will take place with three lights to illuminate its deliberations and
themes.

First there is theApostolic
Exhortation, which was signed by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in the
Paulist Fathers’ Church of Saint Paul in Harissa. It was distributed through
YOUCAT (or Youth Catechism) to every one of our eparchies and parishes. It is
essential that we work in the light of the guidancefrom thatdocument in all aspects
of our ecclesial, pastoral, youth, cultural and monasticlife.

This Exhortation will really remain
a beacon and programme of action for our Churches in the Middle East, particularly
as its title defines the meaning of Christians’ presence in the Middle East: "Communion and Witness” -communion at home
in our Church and among the Churches, and witness in our community, in interaction
with it, bringing it the light and values of the Gospel.

Secondly, thisyear 2012-2013 was proclaimed the
Year of Faith:a good opportunity to work by all
means to strengthen evangelical faith in our parishes, and take initiatives through
our faith activities, praying with the Church, “Strengthen, O Christ our God, holy
Orthodox faith in thy churches and monasteries unto ages of ages.”

We are asked to provide a report
to Rome on initiatives that we've taken ​​in the Year of Faith.

The third light comes to us from theSynod held in Rome in October
2012,which we, the Patriarch, attended, together
with my brother, His Grace Archbishop Joseph Absi, Patriarchal Vicar in
Damascus as your representative. Our 2013 Paschal Letter was devoted to clarifying
the subject of the Synod entitled “The NewEvangelization.” It highlighted
the importance of the Gospel in our Muslim majority Arab society and in the
life of Eastern Christians, because the Gospel was born in our East, and Christ,
who is the living Gospel, was also born in our land.

These three lights will illumine
all the work of our Synod.

Thetopicsthat we shall
address in this Synod were established by the Synodal Committee in consultation
with us.

We now introduce the key points
in this synodal programme:

We shall study how to implement in practice theabove-mentioned Apostolic Exhortation, in our Church’s eparchies locally,
regionally and abroad

We shall examine legal issuesprepared by the Canonical
Committee, concerning the particular law of our Church based on the Code of
Canons of the Eastern Churches, and other topics concerning the ecclesiastical
tribunal and canon law.

We shall evaluate the work of Saint Anna’s
Major Seminarywhich trains all our eparchial
priests.

We shall discuss issues relating tothe observance
in our parishesof World Priest Day and the Year
of Faith

We shall also reviewthe working of
the Holy Synodduring my patriarchal service, take
a look at the topics examined and decisions taken, what has been implemented
and what still remains to be done, and consider how to implement the work and
decisions of the synod so that it can be really at the service of our parishes
in order to strengthen their faith and confirm them in their calling, mission
and role in the Church and society.

We shall have plenty of time to hearreports on the
current crisis from their graces the bishops ofour eparchies
in Syria.We asked each eparchy to establish
a detailed report on the situation, describing,for example: the
affected villages - churches demolished - IDPs - institutions affected ... and
what steps can be taken in the face of this reality.

This is what we said in the Lent Letter for this
year 2013. We described some conditions in our eparchies, and we made a
proposal for a special Solidarity Committee at the level of our Church:

“Solidarity Committee

So we found it necessary to
form a central Solidarity Committee in Syria under our patronage to bring about
the content of this appeal. We propose the formation of regional sub-committees
also in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait, and also in the eparchies
of the expansion, and in our parishes in Western Europe.

We hope that our brother
Bishops will help us with this and propose names of business-people and people
of global influence and relations to be members of local committees.

We hope thereby to be
well-prepared and practically to cope with future challenges awaiting our
faithful and our Christian presence.

Solidarity: an act of Faith

Solidarity stems
from the belief that we are one Church, one body, one Christian family, one
single homeland. Faith is expressed in good works, especially through effective
charity towards those in need. Those in need are our Church’s children.”

Nominations to the episcopal ministry: of
course we shall work to draw up a list of priests suitable to serve as bishops. It is axiomatic that one of the most important duties in the Holy Synods is that of preparing good, humane bishops, right for their place and right for the time. The bishop is a man of God and a man of society, a good shepherd after God’s heart.

We shall also study the five-yearly parishreports submitted to us. In this way we shall review the general situation of our parishes both in beloved Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Kuwait and in the expansion in Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand.Interestingly, our Church is not confined to one country, but we are the Church with the most diverse presence and spread in Arab countries and worldwide. It is useful to explain this through statistics. That is why I have drawn up a list (in an appendix) to show the presence of our Church in the world.

Future challenges and the role
of the Church

We shall face more woes due to some
countries’ design on armaments here and there, especially in Syria, as the
world nowadays seems only to understand the language of arms, war and
destruction, violence and terrorism. Are not past wars, and those still
on-going, not enough to illustrate and convince states that weapons and
armaments do not solve problems or stop wars? On the contrary, they merely fuel
violence and hatred, and cause more death and destruction, displacement and
suffering, at all the levels of the economy, society, health, family, youth,
education and employment.When the
convening of the Second Geneva Conference was announced, a ray of hope broke through
for everyone, but then we were hit by the decision of the world’s biggest
country to supply arms while other countries joined in. We consider supplying
weapons to be a criminal act akin to murder, as it facilitates massacres, and
mass killings are crimes against humanity which deserve prosecution under international
law.

That is why, in the name of this
Synod and its members, who are scattered across many countries, we call on all
parties to halt weapons and armaments, and really to work to find a peaceful
solution to the Syrian crisis, based on dialogue and respect for the lives of
citizens, and on reconciliation, forgiveness and self-restraint and return to
God, that he may have mercy and compassion on our families, on children and
orphans, women, young people and students.This is the real
atmosphere, which will prepare for the Second Geneva Conference, and pave the
way for a peaceful solution to the suffocating Syrian crisis: for everyone
knows that there is no winner through weapons and armaments, but all are
losers. Only through reconciliation, dialogue and return to the values ​​of our
faith is victory achieved, with peace and security, prosperity and progress for
all! This is the way of peace for Arab countries, especially Syria and Lebanon,
which we see burningand where day after day we see
citizens’ suffering at all levels increasing.

Worst of all is the division of
the Arab world, which is increasing day by day: a political, social, religious
and tribal split... We bitterly regret the latest chapter of this division, in
which the Egyptian President severed diplomatic ties with Syria. This is
exactly the opposite of what we have been we calling for in all our speeches
and talks, I mean the Arab world’s unity: unity among Arab ranks, in Arab
decisions and of the Arab position.

It is quite wicked to spread
hatred, hostility, animosity and revenge, murder and spite among citizens of
the same country and city, village and neighbourhood, family, school and place
of worship.

Beloved! Our Church, as I just said,
is widespread across our Arab countries and overseas. I see our most sacred
duty as being to work to disseminate the ideas and tendencies of pastoral,
religious and faith-based Gospel values to all countries everywhere. We have tostandtogether as a
Greek Catholic Episcopal Lobby or pressure group to promote the ideas that I
have set out at the Opening of this Holy Synod. This is a political act and a real
sacred duty that we must carry out with courage and zeal, love and dedication,
sincerity and competence. In this way we shall serve our homelands,communities, parishes, churches, communion and
coexistence, citizenship, freedom and democracy.

Today in Lebanon there is a real
risk of political life being immobilized, which has repercussions right across
Lebanon.Lebanon has entered the fire of the
Syrian crisis. Real non-intervention in the Syrian crisis means unity in
Lebanese internal affairs. Lebanon’s salvation lies in working only in its own
national interest and in the interest of the rights of every individual and
community.

The Church is the only one today
against weapons. It is free, so let it be quite free in its advocacy for
tolerance and unity. The Church has the right position! We are the only ones
not advocating weapons. The Church’s only interest is the national interest and
human interest, the interest of every human being. The Church today has the great role of working
for unity in Lebanon, Syria and the Arab world, because its role is based on Gospel
values.

Unfortunately there are some who
prefer power to love and act accordingly, but we advocate the power of love and
not the love of power.

Conclusion

That is the work that lies ahead of
us, beloved brethren in the episcopate and most reverend members of the Holy
Synod, and dear Superiors General, you are most welcome to this Holy Synod.I should like to
describe the work of our Synod through this kathisma (Tone 8) from Pentecost Matins,
"After thy Rising from the
tomb, O Christ, and thy divine Ascension to the height of heaven, thou didst
send down thy glory to thy disciples who had seen God, renewing a right spirit
within them, O merciful Saviour; therefore as a tuneful lyre they mystically
made clear as with a divine plectrum thy melodies and thy dispensation.”May our Synod be
a tuneful lyre!

We place our Synod under the
protection of Mother Mary, Our Lady of the Annunciation and Patron of the patriarchal
summer headquarters, who visited all areas of Lebanon in the month of May. On
Sunday 16 June in Harissa we, together with all Lebanese Church denominations, commemorated
and venerated her to ask her intercession for Lebanon, Syria, the Arab world
and the whole world!

I should like to end with a hymn in
the First Tone chosen for you from Friday evening Vespers in the Octoechos, a
book of wonderful spiritual wisdom. "Holy Bride
of God, make me holy, sanctified and sober, meek, still, well-ordered, upright
and devout, true, courageous, prudent, long-suffering, good, fair and measured,
blameless, unblemished and without censure, and beyond all these a partaker in
Paradise.”

May our Synod be blessed in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

The Auch die deutsche Politik spiele mit ihrer militärischen Zurückhaltung
eine wichtige Rolle.German policy of military restraint plays an
important role. Zusammen mit anderen
westlichen Ländern könne sie Einfluss auf den Konflikt in Syrien nehmen,
betonte der Patriarch der mit Rom unierten Kirche: "Wir brauchen ein großes
Zeichen der Solidarität nicht nur für die Kirche, sondern für die
Menschen." Along with other Western countries, it could influence
the conflict in Syria, emphasised the Patriarch of the Greek Catholic Church in
communion with Rome: "We need a big gesture of solidarity, not only for
the Church but for the people." Der
Konflikt habe viel Zerstörung gebracht; die Kirchen müssten helfen,
wiederaufzubauen. The conflict has brought much destruction, and the
Churches should help rebuild.

Der Patriarch wertete es als
wichtig, dass die Menschen in Deutschland die Stimme der Ortskirche in Syrien
hörten "und nicht nur die immer gleiche Medienberichterstattung".The
patriarch considered it important for the people of Germany to hear the voice
of the local Churches in Syria "and not just always the same media
coverage." Und weiter:
"Unsere Erfahrungen sind nicht aus den Fernsehprogrammen. Wir haben
Kontakt mit unseren Leuten; wir sehen, was passiert. Entführungen, Ermordungen
und Menschen, die flüchten müssen und alles zurücklassen: Das erleben
wir." He continued: "Our experiences don’t come from
television programmes. We have contact with our people, and we see what is
happening. Kidnappings, murders and people who have to flee and leave
everything: that is what we are experiencing." V.C.

Thursday, 13 June 2013

More details of a massacre in Homs late last month have emerged following the global outcry of a massacre in Deir el-Zour yesterday.

The massacre, carried out by Free Syrian Army militants reportedly targeted men, women and children in the Christian village of al-Duwayr/Douar close to the city of Homs and the border with Lebanon. The incident received little media attention, having occurred at the same time as thousands of Syrian troops converged on the insurgent-occupied town of al-Qusayr.

According to sources, around 350 heavily armed militants entered the village, broke into homes and assembled residents in the main square of the village where they were executed. The final death toll is not known but photos show severe damage to property in the village.

Syrian army sources said that they reached the village after the massacre, resulting in clashes with militants. Sources also reported that Turkish and Chechen extremists were among the perpetrators. Chechen militants are known to have kidnapped two Christian bishops in Aleppo earlier this year. The following images show al-Duwayr/Douar village after the massacre:

This year, 2013, marks the twenty fifth anniversary since St. Volodymyr’s statue was erected outside of the Ukrainian Institute in London. This year is also an important year for Ukrainians, their descendants and those interested in Ukraine, as it marks the 1025th anniversary of Christianity being introduced to Ukraine by St. Volodymyr in 988 whose feast day is 15th July.

On Saturday 8th June 2013, at 2.00pm, an ecumenical prayer service called Moleben (молебен) marked these two occasions. The service was celebrated by clergy and its faithful from both Great Britain’s Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Churches; and AUGB’s (Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain) Fedir Kurlak offered some words too.

More than 100 people gathered around St Volodymyr’s statue and many passers-by stopped to see what was happening, listen to the choir, the prayers and the Ukrainian National Anthem – ‘Ukraine has not yet perished’ (Ще не вмерла Українa).

The Second Vatican Council says, “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of
this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the
joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.” (Gaudium et Spes, Preface)

Saint Paul says, “Whether one member
suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the
members rejoice with it.” (I Corinthians 12: 26) Saint Paul also says, “God …hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5: 18) The Qur’an says: "Come to a common word." A Hadith also says,
“The believers are like one person; if his head aches, the whole body aches
with fever and sleeplessness.” (Sahih Muslim 6260)

Beginning from these venerable verses and
sublime teachings, we express our optimism for the holding of this Second Geneva
Conference. We call for participating in this conference, in the name of the
thousands of victims who have fallen on dear Syria’s soil, widows, orphans, handicapped,
sick, bereaved, kidnapped, disappeared, students, young people, those full of
doubt, wounded in conscience and feelings...and every suffering person in Syria.

In the name of all of them, and on the
basis of our pastoral responsibility, and as President of the Assembly of
Catholic Hierarchy in Syria, we address this appeal to the Russian Federation
and the United States of America who have called this conference, and all those
who will take part: sovereign states, organisations, sons and daughters of
Syria, at home and abroad, allies and opponents. All of you, work with trust, in
the spirit of reconciliation, dialogue and sincere citizenship... Put all your
efforts into making this conference succeed. This is a very important
opportunity, in a decisive central phase, and in the teeth of an historic,
bloody, destructive crisis, the most serious in the history of Syria.

May the call for reconciliation, dialogue, solidarity
and peace, be louder than the din of weaponry and armament.

We call very loudly, “Syrians, come to a
common word between all of you!”

We especially call upon our children, the sons
and daughters of our parishes, to raise prayers and supplications in churches, monasteries,
confraternities, parish associations, homes and families for the success of
this conference, and for security, calm, peace, reconciliation, dialogue, solidarity
and love among the hearts of all citizens.

We pray,

Lord! Grant us Peace! For thou hast given
us all things! “Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the
children of God.” (Matthew 5: 9)

A second article from RISU on the role and mission of Byzantine Catholics in diaspora and new language zones. Dr James Siemens is director of the Theotokos Institute in Cardiff (Wales, UK) and a priest of the Ukrainian Catholic eparchy in Great Britain.

Pray for the Unity of the Apostolic Churches

The Society of St John Chrysostom promotes greater appreciation of the spiritual, theological and liturgical traditions of Eastern Christendom, works and prays for the unity of the Churches of East and West, and encourages support for the Eastern Churches :

- the Byzantine and Oriental Catholic Churches in communion with the Apostolic See of Rome (especially in their contemporary calling to promote reconciliation and the recovery of union between Catholics and Orthodox)- the Orthodox Church- the Oriental Orthodox Churches and- the Church of the East.

In the United Kingdom and Europe the Society, founded in 1926, is a group of Catholics of the Latin and Eastern Churches, along with our friends in other traditions, promoting awareness and friendship in the Christian West for our fellow Christians of the East - through prayer and liturgy, conferences and lectures, pilgrimage and ecumenical encounters.